About

Glyco26 is the 26th International Glycoconjugate Symposium (IGS) organized under the auspices of International Glycoconjugate Organization (IGO). The first ever Symposium was held in 1964 and the second one in 1973. Since then, it was held every two years without interruption until 2021, the year in which Glyco26 was originally scheduled to take place in Taipei, Taiwan. When the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe starting in early 2020, the IGO and the organizers of Glyco26 collectively decided to defer it to 2023 in favor of an in-person interactive format instead of a virtual meeting.  It will now be held at Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan from August 27 to September 1, 2023. 
 
Glyco26 will follow the usual IGS program format of opening on a Sunday evening with the IGO award lectures, then continue throughout the week with Plenary Lectures and parallel Scientific Sessions covering major topics related to the structure and function of glycoconjugates. Each session will spotlight two invited Keynote Lectures and several oral presentations selected from abstract submissions. The meeting will include a Society for Glycobiology (SFG) guest session, two Asian Community of Glycoscience and Glycotechnology (ACGG) sessions, an extra Chemical Glycobiology session, and a pre-symposium public session on the Glycobiology of Viruses to highlight the impact of glycosciences on our understanding of viruses, including coronaviruses. Two interactive Poster sessions are scheduled, which will be preceded and highlighted by flash talks. Glyco26 will be further complemented by workshops focusing on glyco-informatics and glycoproteomics, pre-symposium advanced courses on select topics of glycobiology and two satellite meetings, all without charging an additional fee for interested attendees. 
 
Glyco26 aims to uphold the tradition and spirit of the IGS while infusing new thinking and promoting new blood. In selecting speakers, the organizers have worked hard to balance subject topic coverage with the career stage, gender, and geographical representation of the individual scientists invited. Over 50 invited speakers from over 20 countries in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America will gather together for an intensive week of quality glyco-time. All the usual topics in which a diverse range of glycoconjugates are involved will be covered while new territories including the fascinating glyco-ecosystem of gut microbiota, systems and synthetic glycobiology will be explored. The organizers hope that the scientific program developed is rich and broad enough to attract even scientists working outside the fields of glycobiology and chemistry. This will serve to promote the outreach efforts of the glyco-community, which is an overarching goal of Glyco26.